Robert Crane - Family

“Oh, I know him,” my mother said, her face becoming a mask of barely controlled anger. I recognized it only because she was starting to get her emotions under control. She was usually cooler than that, but she had let slip, Reed’s appearance causing her to let out something she hadn’t intended to let out. “I doubt he’d remember me, since the last time I saw him was about twenty years ago.”

“I remember you,” Reed answered, stone-faced as well. “I’m kinda surprised you recognize me. It’s been a while. I was just a kid, after all.”

“You look just like him,” my mother spat back at him. She seemed to calm. “Why do you remember me?”

I watched Reed as his eyes narrowed, and I saw a flicker of genuine pain cross his face. “I know I was young, but it’s kinda hard to forget the day your dad introduces you to his new wife.”

“What…the…” I breathed. “You were married to…” I blinked. “Wait,” I said to my mother, “you were married?”

“To your father,” my mother returned. “Until he died.”

“Then does that mean…” I blinked again, and turned to Reed, who gave me a shrug and a shake of the head. “You’re my brother?”

Reed nodded. “Half, anyway.”

Kat spoke up, drawing my attention along with everyone else’s. “What…the hell is going on here? Can I go yet?”

“Stay where you are, Kitten,” my mother snapped at her.

“My name is Kat!” A withering glare from my mother caused Kat to flinch. “Yes, ma’am,” she said, chastened.

“So Sienna and this dude are brother and sister?” Clary piped up from behind me. “Cuz I thought I caught ro-mantic tension between them. Heh,” he guffawed. “Guess it’s more like BRO-mantic tension!” He burst out in uncontrolled laughter which was echoed by no one. “What?” He turned to Bastian. “Roberto, that is funny! Come on!”

I turned to Reed. “All this time you’ve been playing Leia to my Luke and you never told me?”

He frowned. “What? I’m totally Luke. You’re the girl. Can you make objects move through the air?” He raised his finger and I felt a gust of wind blow my hair. “No? I’m Luke. You’re Leia. Get it straight.”

“So who’s Han Solo?” Clary asked seriously. “And Darth Vader?”

“I’m going to kill every last one of you pathetic geeks,” my mother said. “And I’m not even going to be nice about it. I’m going to just start draining souls. Will you please stop with the moronic Star Wars references? The movies came out in the 1970s. Most of you weren’t even born then. Move on with your lives.” She reached up and slapped Kat on the ass, causing the blond girl to jump. “Start walking. Sienna, get over here.”

“You know,” Clary said, “I think Kat should be Leia, because that gold bikini would look way better on her than Sienna.”

I turned and gave him a glare. “I hate you, Clyde.”

“Hey, girl! Ain’t nobody calls me Clyde!”

“Sienna.” My mother’s tone snapped at me, drawing my attention back to her. Kat was already walking across the fifty or so feet of space between us. “Get over here.”

I cast a look back at Reed and Ariadne, and caught muffled rage from Reed, directed at my mother. Ariadne was a bit more complex, stiff and impassive. I took a first hesitant step, then another, my feet carrying me toward Kat. The wind was warm, the dark skies and the light from the lamps nearby casting the only illumination on the whole scene. When I drew close to Kat, she stopped me, her hand on my sleeve. I looked down where it rested, then up to her wide, round eyes, sincere. “Don’t go with her,” she said quietly. “She’s so…so…mean. So cold.”

I looked at her, her perfect hair, her new clothes, her flawless makeup. “Why do you say that? Did she lock you in a metal box with no food and little water for days at a time?”

Kat’s expression turned scandalized. “No!”

I felt a subtle shift in my emotions toward indifference, toward tiredness and uncaring. “Count yourself lucky. She must like you more than me.”

“Sienna,” my mother said warningly, a dark look on her face.

There was a beep behind me, urgent, and I stopped and turned to look. All motion seemed to freeze in the formation, and everyone turned to see what the noise was. It was Bastian’s radio, and he held his hand up to his ear. “Yeah? Oh, damn.” He looked up at Ariadne, sharply. “The vamps. They’re here – we’ve got four men down by the dorms.” A klaxon sounded in the distance and speakers all around the campus took up the warning, blaring as the spotlights activated on every building and we were flooded with light.

“Oh hell,” Ariadne said, completely ruffled. “The entire population of metas – GO!” she shouted to M-Squad. “Don’t wait, GO!” She fired a look at Kat. “They’ll need you, too.”

Kat looked back at me, and I felt a cool calm settle over me. She bit her lip for just a second before she took off after Clary and the others. Parks had already transformed, taking the lead as a wolf. Kappler was flying overhead, her usually invisible wings catching just enough light to reveal them against the dark, fluttering hard like a butterfly’s.

“Reed…” Ariadne said, pleading, and I saw him look torn. The tension rose on his face, watching me, then he looked back to her. “We could really use your help.” She looked at me. “We could use all the help we can get.”

“I know what I’m in for if I stay,” I told her. She nodded once, and started to run, wobbling in her heels, before she stopped and kicked them off.

Reed was the only one left now. Regret tinged his features. “Find me,” he said, and I nodded. He thrust his hands down at the ground, and with a burst of air he shot up in a controlled leap that carried him a hundred feet along toward the dormitory building. Another blast of air cushioned his landing and then he launched off again.

“Well, wasn’t that fortuitous?” My mother spoke from behind me, drawing my attention back to her. “I expected we’d have to fight our way out.”

I looked at her warily. “What was your plan for that?”

She shrugged, as if she had not a care. “Fight our way out. Duh.”

“Why are you here, Mother?” I asked, worn out and sick of all the emotion, revelation, wondering and worrying.

“I’ve got my reasons,” she said, and I saw the skin crinkle at the edge of her eyes as she looked at me severely. “But you could do with a little more gratitude to me for saving your skin back at Eagle River, and again now.”

“Thanks,” I said without feeling. “But you’re still not answering the question.”

“I got what I came for. We can leave.” She turned as if to emphasize that point, and started to walk away.

“What did you come here for?” I asked, taking a few steps to keep up. “Why are you here?” She was taking the path that wended toward the woods where I’d encountered her before. I waited for her to answer for a minute. “What is it about Andromeda that’s so damned important?”

“You—” She whirled around and pointed a finger at my face. “You should learn to keep your mouth shut around others.”

“So you were here for Andromeda,” I said resignedly.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous about reasoning?” I asked, and let my legs carry me past her along the path she had been walking. I heard her follow me, and I kept going. “You went halfway across the country to let her loose. You’ve exposed yourself to all sorts of danger coming here twice to…” I frowned. “Wait, you didn’t know she was dead last time you were here.” I turned to her. “What were you doing here then?”